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Connect four

Game rules

Connect4 is played in a grid of 6 rows and 7 columns. Rows are numbred from 1 to 6 from bottom to top, and columns from A to G from left to right. The objective is to align 4 tokens of your color, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Course of the game

Each player puts a token of its color in the columns of his choice, in turn.

Phisically, the grid is vertically disposed, so that the tokens are inserted by a hole on the top and fall onto the bottomest still unoccupied row. Thus one can choose in which column one want to play, but not the row; the token just inserted always fall as far as possible to the first available row from the bottom. Obviously, one can't play in a full column already containing 6 tokens.

The first player who manages to align 4 tokens of his color, horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins the game. Your goal is thus to build such an alignment and prevent your opponents from doing the same.

If the grid become entirely full without anybody managing to make an alignment, the game is declared draw.

This game is originally designed to be played with two players only, with red and yelllow, or black and white tokens. As an extension, the playroom allow for games with 3 and 4 players; that being said, games with 3 or 4 players are regularely considred to be less interesting because they are much less previsible, and more often end draw. When one play with 3 players, an eighth column H is added to the right, and with 4 players, two columns H and I are added.